New Skype Preview for Windows Phone 8 Drops Contacts Integration

Microsoft and Skype today announced the awkwardly named Skype for Windows Phone 8 Preview 2.1, which takes a temporary step back in the integration department: In this release, Skype can no longer integrate its contacts list with the Windows Phone People hub.

Skype says it is working with the Windows Phone team to resolve an issue with the integration, which in previous releases caused device instability. (This was widely reported by many early users.) But the new upgrade does offer a few new features too:

Updated chat keyboard with improved autocomplete/autocorrect.

Windows Live Messenger integration: Buddies from Windows Live Messenger are labeled in the People list.

Beyond this, Skype says the new release fixes some bugs related to the reliability of presence and chat and call notifications when the app is closed and the incorrect ordering of chat messages. Skype recommends that users upgrade immediately, if only to prevent their handsets from spontaneously rebooting. (My words, not theirs.)